Controlling Vulnerable

Chapter 36

When they got home, Lara slipped the pasta bake into the oven and set about testing Grace on her spellings for a test the next day. Charlotte had taken her school bag upstairs and Joe kissed Lara from behind before grabbing some pasta bowls for her. He went upstairs to shower and change and by the time he'd finished Mark and Linda had arrived. Lara grabbed the large dish from the oven and the tray with garlic bread. Linda said, "You go on up and get ready honey. I'll serve up." She turned with a smile seeing Joe coming down the stairs and he caught her for hug. Mark stopped tickling Grace and clapped him on the back, "Bet you're starving Joe. I'll just be here, digging into that pasta while you wait for your fancy dinner." Joe grinned and trailed his hand down Lara's back. He kissed her lightly and said, "Go get ready sweetheart, I'll help sort the girls." Lara caught his eye and reached up to drop a soft kiss on his lips before heading upstairs.

When Joe and Lara had left and the girls had run upstairs to get ready for bed, Mark turned to his wife, "What's gone on with those two?" Linda sighed, "Tell you the truth, for once I don't know, but if I had to guess I'd say it was something to do with these guys Lara used to work with. Something's been off with Joe for a few days, and when she came back from the conference they ran out for lunch. When they got back to the office they were just like that, couldn't stop looking at one another." She nudged Mark, "See if you can find out what's going on when you go out for beers tomorrow." Mark threw an arm around her and laughed, "You hate not being on the inside track." Linda punched him playfully, "Shut up, you're just as bad, so find out what we're missing out on tomorrow." Mark pulled her into his body, "Aye aye captain." He kissed her, "I know you worry, but they seemed okay."

Harry saw Lara and Joe coming into the reception area and he couldn't help but feel for Rob. Joe looked every inch the powerful businessman, wearing a dark suit and open-necked white shirt, while Lara had a black fitted dress with a subtly encrusted bodice and matching heels. Her Florida sun-kissed hair contrasted with Joe's dark colouring, and her striking blue eyes stood out, framed against her dark lashes. The extra height enhanced her softly curvaceous figure and seeing Joe holding her hand, Harry silently hoped Rob wasn't looking. He came over and shook Joe's hand, "Good to see you again Joe. Thanks for letting us have Lara on loan to come and help us out today." Joe laughed, "It was the least I could do since you guys having her speak at last year's conference is the whole reason we met." Harry nodded with a laugh and looked towards the bar, "Feel free to grab drinks. We're going through for dinner in around thirty minutes. Lara, there's a couple of people wanting to catch you about potential contacts for Callex from their client base."

On the other side of the room, Rob turned from where he was making small talk with a delegate from a US Insurer and spotted them standing waiting at the bar. He was momentarily stunned thinking he'd never seen Lara look so beautiful. He took a deep breath and crossed the room towards them. Harry saw out of the corner of his eye, and he silently prayed his colleague would be able to hold himself together. When he reached the bar Rob plastered a smile on and said "Hello, nice to see you again Joe," and stuck out his hand. Joe took it warmly and said, "Hey, good to see you too. Feels like Christmas was a long old time ago." Rob relaxed and said, "Yes, it does." Turning to Lara he leaned and pecked her cheek, "Have you caught up with Harry? He's got a few people wanting to talk to you both about Callex for some of their client base." Lara glanced at Joe and smiled, "Yeah, we've just seen him, he said." A grey-haired, bespectacled man appeared at her side, and said in a heavily German-accented voice, "Excuse me, Lara, do you remember me from last year? Karsten, from Globale Versicherung." Lara had a vague recollection of seeing him the prior year either in a breakout session or later at the dinner and she turned to say, "Of course, Karsten, how lovely to see you again." He manoeuvred her slightly away from the other two men and began holding forth about how interesting her presentation earlier had been. Joe turned towards Rob and smirked saying quietly, "I have a feeling Lara can't remember this guy at all, but she hid it well." Rob laughed, "I think you're probably right." He paused and looked at Joe carefully as Karsten dragged Lara further down the room to talk to another delegate from a European insurer. "I'm actually glad to get a few minutes alone Joe." Joe took some of his drink and Rob swallowed, "I just wanted to tell you I'm really glad it's worked out for Lara over here. You've probably guessed I'm very fond of her, and knowing what she's been through it's good to see her happy like this." Joe touched Rob's shoulder, warming to this man who so obviously cared for Lara. "Rob, Lara told me today how you stood up for her, and how she only found out today you travelled a long way to support her at the douchebag husband's funeral. I'm really grateful that you were there for her because from what I've seen no-one else took proper care of how she felt." Rob wasn't sure how to respond, but the look on Joe's face was open and sincere and he realised this was someone he couldn't help but like. Joe continued, "I want you to know I'm going to give her and the kids the best life. I'm always going to take care of her." Rob smiled and looked down the room, "You're lucky to have found one another Joe." He sighed dramatically, "You might want to go and rescue poor Lara before the German bores her to death." Joe laughed and headed off clapping Rob on the shoulder.